Skandapurana 3.1.48
English (machine translation) 3.1.48
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The glorious Sūta said:
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Concerning Rāmanātha, a sin-destroying story
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I shall proclaim, O best of sages; listen with attentive minds.
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Formerly there was a king, the ruler of the Pāṇḍya country, named Śaṅkara,
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devoted to brahmins, true to his word, performing many sacrifices, and righteous.
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Knowing the truth of the Vedas and Vedāṅgas, tearing through enemy armies,
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protecting all four stages of life and social classes according to dharma,
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devoted to Vedic conduct, well-versed in the Purāṇas and Smṛtis,
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a perpetual worshipper of Śiva and Viṣṇu, and a worshipper of other deities as well,
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always giving great gifts to noble brahmins.
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Once that wise man went to an ascetic grove for hunting,
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which was terrifying with cruel creatures—lions, tigers, elephants, and buffaloes—
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resounding with the dreadful chirping of crickets, teeming with serpents,
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full of fierce wild beasts, terrifying with forest fire.
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Having entered that great forest, King Śaṅkara,
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accompanied by many soldiers, surrounded by a band of hunters,
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with his feet hidden in leather sandals, wearing a red turban and green garments,
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with bowman's wrist-guard and finger-guards fastened, holding a bow and arrows,
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with a large sword strapped to his side, mounted on an excellent white horse,
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splendidly dressed, armored, surrounded by troops of foot-soldiers,
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in all the wildernesses, mountains, and caves,
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having crossed great torrents—a youth with the prowess of a lion—
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roamed along with his forces through the valleys, hunting game.
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“Let this one be captured! Let it be killed! The deer runs swiftly in the forest!”
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While the soldiers were saying this, Śaṅkara, leaping forward himself,
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plunged into the forest tract, and the great king killed the deer.
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Lions, boars, buffaloes, elephants, and śarabhas,
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and slaying other wild beasts, King Śaṅkara,
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in a certain forest region, [spotted] one dwelling inside a cave—
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a tranquil sage wearing a tiger-skin, with his mind restrained;
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mistaking him for a tiger, he swiftly killed him with a straight-jointed arrow.
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With great velocity, O best of brahmins, that arrow
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also struck down his wife, who held her husband as her life-breath and sat beside him.
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Seeing his mother and father slain in the forest,
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their son wept, deeply afflicted with grief, and lamented in distress:
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“O father! O mother! Abandoning me, where have you two gone now?
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Where shall I go? Who will be my refuge?
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Who will teach me the Vedas, or instruct me in the treatises, O father?
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O mother, who will give me food along with gentle instruction?
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Who will instruct me in proper conduct now that you are dead, father?
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O mother, when I am an angry child, who will coax and comfort me?
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By what sin today have you two innocent ones, dedicated to austerity,
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my very life, my teachers, been slain with arrows in the forest?”
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Thus their son wept at the top of his voice, O brahmins.
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Then, hearing that wailing as he ranged through the forest, King Śaṅkara,
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turning directly toward the sound, immediately went to the mouth of the cave.
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The sages dwelling there also swiftly came to that hermitage.
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All those sages, seeing the sage slain by an arrow,
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and his wife slain, O brahmins, and the king holding his bow,
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and beholding the son lamenting, were deeply agitated.
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They consoled the grieving son, saying, “Do not weep!”
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The sages said:
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“Whether toward the rich or the poor, toward the foolish or the wise,
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whether toward the stout or the thin, the King of the Dead treats all alike.
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Whether in a forest, in a city, in a village, on a mountain, or in another place,
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All living beings must indeed pass under the power of death.
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O child, living beings constantly—whether still in the womb or born,
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the young and the old—must all go to the city of Yama.
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Religious students, householders, forest-dwellers, and ascetics—
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when the time arrives, this body must be abandoned, O son of a twice-born!
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By brahmins, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas, śūdras, and mixed castes as well,
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one must go to the abode of the dead, O son of a twice-born of great intellect!
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The gods, the sages, the yakṣas, the gandharvas, serpents, and rākṣasas,
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and all other beings, Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Hara, and the rest—
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all shall meet destruction; you ought not to grieve.
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The non-dual, being-consciousness-bliss, which is the Brahman found in the Upaniṣads—
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for that there is neither destruction, nor birth, nor growth, O best of men.
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In this vessel of filth with nine gates, an abode of pus and blood,
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in this body having the shape of a bubble, crowded with swarms of worms,
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causing desire, anger, fear, hostility, delusion, and envy,
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coveting only another's wife, another's field, and another's wealth,
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pervaded by violence, malice, and impurity, a mere receptacle for feces and urine—
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whoever should form a good opinion [of it] is a fool and wicked-minded.
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In this body shaped like a jar with many holes, ever impure,
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how could the stay of the wind called prāṇa be long, O twice-born?
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Therefore do not grieve for your mother and father.
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Under the power of their own karma, having left this house, they have gone somewhere,
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and under the power of your karma you remain on the surface of this earth.
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When there is the exhaustion of your karma, then you too shall die.
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A ghost about to die grieves indeed for a dead ghost!
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At the time when your mother and father were born,
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you were not born at that [time]; therefore your destiny is indeed separate.
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If your destiny were identical with theirs, O intelligent one,
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then upon their death you too would have gone where they have gone.
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The relatives of the dead who shed tears on the earth—
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those tears indeed the dead spirits drink in the other world.
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Therefore, having abandoned grief and gathered firmness, being collected in mind,
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perform the Vedic funeral rites for both of them.
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Because both your mother and father died from the blow of an arrow,
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therefore, for the appeasement of that fault, take their bones
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and deposit [them] at Rāmasetu, which grants liberation, in the sacred field of Rāmanātha Śiva,
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and likewise [perform] the śrāddha, the sapiṇḍīkaraṇa, and other rites.
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Perform [them] right there for the purification of both, O brahmin's son;
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by that comes the appeasement of the sin of unnatural death, not otherwise.
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Śrī Sūta said:
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Having been spoken to thus by the sages, O twice-born, the son of Śākalya,
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named Jāṅgala, performed their entire funeral sacrifice.
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On the next day, taking the bones, he went to Hālāsya.
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Going from there at once to Rāmeśvara, this twice-born Jāṅgala,
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in the manner spoken by the sage, at that site of Rāmeśvara,
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deposited the bones of his parents and performed the śrāddha and other rites.
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And he performed the rites there up to the first annual ceremony;
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having dwelt there alone for a year, that son of the sage named Jāṅgala,
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on the day at the end of the year, at night in a dream, the brahmin saw
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his mother and father bearing conch, discus, and mace,
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seated upon Garuḍa, adorned with lotus garlands,
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beautified with garlands of tulasī, wearing gleaming makara-shaped earrings,
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their chests adorned with the Kaustubha gem, resplendent in yellow garments.
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Seeing [them] thus, the sage's son Jāṅgala, his mind very serene,
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returned to his hermitage and lived happily, O twice-born.
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And that Jāṅgala reported the account of his mother and father seen in the dream
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entirely to those brahmins, being exceedingly delighted.
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Having heard that news, those sages became joyful in their hearts.
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Then, beholding the king, all those great seers—
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the brahmins, being enraged, spoke, cursing King Śaṅkara:
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"O Pāṇḍya king! O great fool! O killer of a brahmin through cruelty!
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Since you have now committed both the murder of a woman and the murder of a brahmin, // 57
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therefore, abandon your body in the fire that carries oblations.
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Otherwise, you will have no purification, even through hundreds of expiations. // 58
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Merely by speaking with you, ten thousand murders of brahmins are incurred.
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Depart from our presence, O defiler of the Pāṇḍya lineage!" // 59
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Addressed thus by the sages, O bulls among brahmins, the Pāṇḍya [king] Śaṅkara [said]:
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"So be it; I shall abandon my body in the fire that carries oblations // 60
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in your presence, for the purification of the murder of a brahmin.
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O best of sages, bestow your grace upon me, // 61
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so that through the abandonment of my body my sin may be destroyed."
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Having spoken thus to all the sages, King Śaṅkara of the Pāṇḍyas, // 62
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summoning his ministers, spoke these words:
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"O ministers, by me, lacking reflection on what should not be done, the murder of a brahmin // 63
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and also the cruel murder of a woman, which leads to a great hell, [have been committed].
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For the purification of this sin, at the word of the sages, // 64
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I will abandon my body in a blazing fire of great flames.
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Quickly bring pieces of firewood, and let the fire be kindled with them. // 65
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And without delay, install my son Suruci in the kingdom.
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Do not grieve, O ministers; destiny cannot be overcome." // 66
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Addressed thus by the king, the ministers then wept:
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"O lord of the Pāṇḍyas! O great king, affectionate even to enemies! // 67
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Indeed, we have always been protected by you like sons.
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Without you, we will not enter the city, which is like the city of the gods. // 68
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We too will enter the fire kindled with abundant logs!"
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Hearing their lamentation, King Śaṅkara of the Pāṇḍyas // 69
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addressed all the ministers with soothing words:
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Śaṅkara said:
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"O ministers, what will you do with me, a great sinner? // 70
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Alas, having ascended the throne, it is not fitting [for me]
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to directly protect the earth bounded by the four oceans. // 71
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Therefore, swiftly install my son Suruci upon the throne.
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Quickly bring firewood for me to enter the fire that carries oblations. // 72
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O you who are my best ministers, abandon delay now!"
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Commanded thus, the ministers brought firewood in an instant. // 73
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Seeing the fire blazing with the logs, King Śaṅkara,
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having bathed and sipped water, purified in soul, then in the presence of the sages, // 74
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quickly circumambulated the fire and also those sages;
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having bowed to the fire and to the sages, and having meditated on God, the lord of Umā, // 75
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the king, gathering his courage, prepared to leap into the fire.
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At that moment, O brahmins, while the sages too were listening, // 76
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a bodiless voice arose, resounding frightfully:
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"O King Śaṅkara! Do not enter the fire now! // 77
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O broad-minded one, let there be no fear in you on account of the murder of a brahmin.
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I shall declare an instruction to you, a secret conforming to the Vedas. // 78
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Listen attentively, O king, and let that which is spoken by me be done!
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On the shore of the southern ocean, on Mount Gandhamādana, // 79
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at the most holy Rāmasetu, the destroyer of great sins,
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serve the liṅga consecrated by Rāma, Rāmanātha, the Great Lord, // 80
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for one year, thrice a day with devotion.
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Make circumambulations and prostrations indeed! // 81
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Let a great ceremonial bath be performed by you for Rāmanātha,
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and let various food offerings be made, O king, day after day. // 82
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Worship the liṅga of Rāma with sandalwood, agallochum, and camphor.
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And bathe [it] with two bhāras of cow's ghee. // 83
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And daily, with the milk of cows measuring two bhāras,
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and with a droṇa of honey, bathe that liṅga of the Lord every day. // 84
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Daily offer a meal of rice cooked in milk, O king;
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and daily perform the worship of lamps with sesame oil. // 85
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By this, O chief of kings, of Rāmanātha who bears the trident...
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both the sin of killing a woman and the sin of killing a brahmin are destroyed that very instant. 86.
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From the darśana of Rāmanātha, hundreds of sins of destroying an embryo,
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ten thousand sins of killing a brahmin, likewise ten thousand sins of drinking liquor, 87.
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ten thousand sins of stealing gold, O king, ten thousand sins of violating the guru’s bed,
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and the faults of associating with these, perish in a moment, O lord. 88.
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Whatever sins there are equal to the mortal sins,
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they are all destroyed by the service of Rāmanātha. 89.
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If humans obtain the great service of Rāmanātha,
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what need is there of the Gaṅgā, of Gayā, of Prayāga, or of a sacrifice? 90.
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Therefore, go to the bridge of Rāma; worship Rāmanātha day and night.
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Do not delay, O lord, and hasten to depart.” 91.
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Having spoken thus, that bodiless voice fell silent.
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Hearing that, all the sages urged the king: 92.
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“Go quickly, O great king, to the bridge of Rāma, which bestows liberation.
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Not knowing the māhātmya of Rāmanātha, it was proclaimed by us: 93.
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‘Abandon your body now in a blazing fire.’ ”
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Thus permitted by the excellent sages, that King Śaṅkara, 94.
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having sent his fourfold army back to the city in haste,
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bowed to all the sages with a joyous inner self. 95.
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Surrounded by a few soldiers, taking with him abundant wealth,
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he went to Gandhamādana for the sake of serving Rāmanātha. 96.
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He resided for one year at the bridge of Rāma, which grants purity,
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eating once a day, with anger conquered and the multitude of senses subdued, 97.
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serving Rāmanātha at the three junctures of the day with devotion.
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Joyfully he gave ten bhāras of wealth to Rāmanātha. 98.
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- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit